Before We Flew Like Birds, We Flew Like Clouds

Before We Flew Like Birds, We Flew Like Clouds

Before We Flew Like Birds, We Flew Like Clouds is an audience activated installation illuminating the experiences of four humans with extraordinary relationships to their bodies – an astronaut, a professional athlete, a survivor of a near death experience and a differently abled person – using virtual reality, and prerecorded and live music staged inside a floating, immersive set of star-like objects.

The narrative centers on the question, “what is it like to be in your body?” Each contributor’s personal story will be integrated in the installation through audio interviews sampled and used in the score, and through four virtual reality pieces that focus on each contributor individually.

In an interactive planetarium-like environment, viewers sit in swivel chairs travel amidst floating, star-like sculptures, helium balloons enclosed in Styrene tubine triangular frames. Live dance, vocals and musical strings contribute to the immersive atmosphere and add a performative element to the work.This project is commissioned by Velocity Dance Center’s Made In Seattle Program.

KT Niehoff is an entrepreneurial generative artist, performer, and producer working in the field of immersive performance. Her disciplines include choreography, music, film, space, design, and building community programs. She holds a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. In the early 90’s she moved to Seattle, WA to perform with the Pat Graney Company and in 1996 co-founded the Seattle based arts space, Velocity Dance Center, with Michele Miller, where she instituted the SCUBA National Touring Dance Alliance. In 2006 she left her post at Velocity to pursue her immersive performance work full time. As an educator for more than 20 years, KT has taught at numerous festivals and universities including Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Oberlin College, Cornish College of the Arts, Texas Christian University, The University of Washington, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and the School for New Dance Development (SNDO) in Amsterdam.